SRI LANKA: anyone been there recently?
Feb 7, 2005 | 2:18 pm
#16
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: homeless
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Posts: 585
Good post billiam, I agree with everything you said. I also second this:
Originally Posted by billiam
If you or have travel companions that like good deals, you should leave half a day to a day to shop in stores in Colombo like Arena, Odel's, or Barefoot. Arena is a smaller shop, but has nicer (read: more expensive, relative to the other shops) clothes.
Feb 7, 2005 | 10:29 pm
#17
Join Date: Jul 2003
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Posts: 631
EFATO, thanks for the kind words 
SD1K, I did a ex-CMB OZ F one-way back to the west coast, my trip report is here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=382620
I didn't know there were any tsunami specific threads, but I don't usually look in the "off-topic" forums. I did feel a little weird touring a country after such an event, but we weren't the only tourists there either. At Sigiriya Village, it seems the dining room was almost full during dinner. Same for Mahaweli Reach. The parts I saw (airport, Colombo, Sigiriya, Kandy) seems largely un-affected, people in the streets, cars on the road, nothing chaotic. Lots of shoppers at Odel's (Arena had less shoppers that day). I was told that Yala was affected, so check before you plan on going there. There were donation stations setup at the larger hotels in Colombo, as well as various cargo and military aircraft at the airport (we saw a Bangladeshi C-130!).
We stayed at Mahaweli Reach for our 2nd night and it was really nice. Good buffet spread for breakfast and dinner. Room was clean, and size was good. So don't worry if you end up there for a few nights.
Food is fairly cheap in Sri Lanka, meals can be had for 3-6 USD per person, based on our experience. We had a buffet for about 5 per person in Colombo before our flight out. Probably shouldn't have since SQ has dinner service on their flight, even though its at 1:35am!
I must also suggest going to the Maldives as well, if you're going to make your way out there. Great diving and snorkeling, and just beautiful scenery. We actually left the Maldives 2 days before the tsunami, for Kerala, India, on the southwestern coast, so we were very fortunate.
SD1K, I did a ex-CMB OZ F one-way back to the west coast, my trip report is here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=382620
I didn't know there were any tsunami specific threads, but I don't usually look in the "off-topic" forums. I did feel a little weird touring a country after such an event, but we weren't the only tourists there either. At Sigiriya Village, it seems the dining room was almost full during dinner. Same for Mahaweli Reach. The parts I saw (airport, Colombo, Sigiriya, Kandy) seems largely un-affected, people in the streets, cars on the road, nothing chaotic. Lots of shoppers at Odel's (Arena had less shoppers that day). I was told that Yala was affected, so check before you plan on going there. There were donation stations setup at the larger hotels in Colombo, as well as various cargo and military aircraft at the airport (we saw a Bangladeshi C-130!).
We stayed at Mahaweli Reach for our 2nd night and it was really nice. Good buffet spread for breakfast and dinner. Room was clean, and size was good. So don't worry if you end up there for a few nights.
Food is fairly cheap in Sri Lanka, meals can be had for 3-6 USD per person, based on our experience. We had a buffet for about 5 per person in Colombo before our flight out. Probably shouldn't have since SQ has dinner service on their flight, even though its at 1:35am!
I must also suggest going to the Maldives as well, if you're going to make your way out there. Great diving and snorkeling, and just beautiful scenery. We actually left the Maldives 2 days before the tsunami, for Kerala, India, on the southwestern coast, so we were very fortunate.